Hazinfo Supplemental Final Report Idrc 103553 001

8/14/2019 Hazinfo Supplemental Final Report Idrc 103553 001

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Regional Dissemination of Findings from the Last-Mile Hazard Information Dissemination Pilot

Project

(HazInfo Supplemental Project)

Grant No.: 103553-001Grant Period: 01-June-2007 to 29-February-2008

Report Presentation Date: 15-March-2008

Submitted to IDRC by:

Natasha Udu-gama, Dissemination Manager - HazInfoLIRNEasia

12 Balcombe PlaceColombo 8 Sri Lanka

Tel: +94 11 452 7647 Fax: +94 11 452 7648E-mail: [email protected]

Web site:www.LIRNEasia.net

SRI LANKA

LIRNEasia is a regional information and communication technology (ICT) policy and regulation capacity-

building organization active across the Asia Pacific. LIRNEasias program of actionable research seeks to

identify the institutional constraints to effective use of ICTs to improve the lives of the people of the Asia

Pacific, not simply in abstract terms but in country context, and to work collaboratively with multiple

stakeholders to catalyze the changes conducive to greater participation by users and suppliers. LIRNEasias

overall mission of capacity building seeks to contribute to building capacity for evidence-based intervention in

the public-policy process by persons attuned to the specific national contexts within which policies are made

and implemented. Additional information is available atwww.lirneasia.net.


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Table of Contents

1. Synthesis __________________________________________________________________ 3

2. Research problem ___________________________________________________________ 3

3. Research findings ___________________________________________________________ 3

4. Fulfillment of objectives ______________________________________________________ 4

5. Project design and implementation_____________________________________________ 4

6. Project outputs and dissemination _____________________________________________ 4

Conferences/Workshops: ______________________________________________________________4

2nd International ISCRAM-CHINA Workshop:Harbin Engineering University, August 26-27 20074

The Role of Telecom Operators and Broadcasters in a National Public Warning System,

BMICH, Sri Lanka, September 7, 2007 __________________________________________________ 5

1st

Wireless Rural and Emergency Communications Conference: Rome, Italy. October 1-2, 20077

Sharing Knowledge on Last-Mile Warning: Community-based Last-Mile Warning Systems:

Dhaka, Bangladesh. October 25, 2007__________________________________________________ 9

19th Meeting of the Wireless World Research Forum: Indian Institute of Technology, Madras,November 2007_____________________________________________________________________14

Sharing Knowledge on Last-Mile Warning: Community-Based Last-Mile Warning Systems: New

Delhi, November 19, 2007____________________________________________________________15

Sharing Knowledge on Last-Mile Warning: Community-Based Last-Mile Warning Systems:

Jakarta, Indonesia. March 5, 2008 (Planned)____________________________________________ 21

GK3 Session ET4: Emerging Technologies Session on Making Communities Disaster Resilient:

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. December 11, 2007___________________________________________21

CPRsouth2 Empowering rural communities through ICT policy and research: Chennai, India,

December 15-18, 2007_______________________________________________________________30

GK3 Session Paper Promoting Community Disaster Resilience through Technology, Training

and Community Empowerment: The HazInfo Experience_________________________________31

CPRsouth2: Empowering rural communities through ICT policy and research IIT-Madras,

Chennai, India; December 14-18, 2007_________________________________________________ 31

HazInfo Documentary: The Long Last Mile_____________________________________________ 32

HazInfo DVD Distribution _____________________________________________________________32

Conference Papers Accepted, Not Attended: ___________________________________________32

4th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management

(ISCRAM) Delft, 13-16 May 2007____________________________________________________ 32

Wireless Personal Multimedia Communications (WPMC) Conference: Jaipur, India. 3-6

December 2007_____________________________________________________________________33

Future Conferences/Workshops: ______________________________________________________33

International Conference on Earthquake Engineering and Disaster Mitigation 2008 (ICEEDM):

Jakarta, Indonesia, 14 April 2008______________________________________________________33

Media Coverage: _____________________________________________________________________33

Print ______________________________________________________________________________33

TV _______________________________________________________________________________34

7. Capacity-building___________________________________________________________ 34

8. Project management ________________________________________________________ 35

9. Impact ____________________________________________________________________ 35

10. Overall assessment_________________________________________________________ 36

11. Recommendations__________________________________________________________ 37

Appendix A: Proposed Participants for HazInfo Indonesia Workshop ___________________38

Appendix B: Distribution of HazInfo DVDs___________________________________________40


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LIRNEasia, 12, Balcombe Place, Colombo 00800, Sri Lankav: +94 (0)11 267 1160; +94 (0)11 493 9992; +94 (0)11 497 9795; f: +94 (0)11 267 5212

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[email protected]

Company Number: N(A) 1251

1. Synthesis

Following the successful implementation of the Evaluating Last-Mile HazardInformation Dissemination (HazInfo) pilot project, it was decided that regional

dissemination of the pilots findings would enhance the projects status as a path-breaker in last-mile risk communication for communities at-risk.

The HazInfo supplemental project, as this dissemination portion of the originalHazInfo project was called, encouraged the sharing of findings and lessons learnedfrom the HazInfo project with similar last-mile initiatives in three select Bay of Bengalcountries (Bangladesh, India and Indonesia). This was achieved by organizing aworkshop in each of the three countries in partnership with a local disaster riskreduction/disaster preparedness organization.

The workshops were structured into five sessions with a portion of an early warningsystem as the main topic (i.e. First Responder Action). Basically, each sessionfeatured one speaker from the HazInfo Sri Lanka project and one speaker from thehost country. Several pointed questions were posed within the agenda for theensuing discussions. The workshops unearthed much interest in the topic of last-milehazard information dissemination for communities and shed light on a topic not

otherwise discussed in typical workshop on early warning. Moreover, it produced

interest in replicating the HazInfo project to suit the particular hazard makeup of thechosen country.

2. Research problem

The Evaluating Last-Mile Hazard Information Dissemination (HazInfo) pilot projectcould not achieve its proper status without appropriate dissemination of its findingswithin the region. Given that the pilots purpose was to test various technologiesusefulness in the last-mile of a national early warning system, its implications forneighboring countries, particularly around the Bay of Bengal, are highly relevant.

Thus, the need for a series of regional workshops arose with the central idea beingthat the HazInfo pilot would be the focus. Lessons would be drawn from eachworkshop for purposes of comparison and contrasting with similar host countryinitiatives.

3. Research findings

The workshops conducted between the inception of this supplemental (June 2007)until the present (February 2008), indicate a number of strong successes. Itsucceeded in its main goal of engaging practitioners and experts in discussing andspeaking to the issue of community-based early warning systems and the potential ofICTs as a revolutionary means of disseminating warning to communities at-risk.

The main research results should be described and interpreted by highlighting thecontribution to knowledge that this project represents from a scientific and policyperspective.


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4. Fulfillment of objectives

The primary objective of the HazInfo supplemental project was to organize and hold

a series o of three regional workshops designed to discuss and compare similarcommunity-based early warning systems. This objective was achieved with 75%completed. Meaning that workshops were conducted in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh andIndia, but not Indonesia. The Indonesia workshop could not be fulfilled due tologistical problems in obtaining visas for Sri Lankan speakers. The Sri Lankaworkshop was an unexpected, unplanned (at the time of supplemental proposalsubmission) event, which not only featured the findings of the HazInfo project, but

also brought together Sri Lankan telecom providers to initiate working committees(with the support of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights) to findeffective an effective solution to issuing hazard alerts to the public.

5. Project design and implementation

The activities in this project were workshops. Each workshop was designed todiscuss each part of an early warning system including a discussion period. Thisallowed for maximum speaker-audience interaction so as to derive as many lessonslearned. In the final workshop in Indonesia, it was hoped that the session discussion

would be revamped such that participants would break off into groups and haveworksheets of questions that would encourage further discussion on the majortopics.

In terms of gender, speakers from both genders were invited for both theBangladeshi and Indian workshops. Unfortunately, it was found that during both

workshops there was only one female speaker, respectively. More often than not,invited female speakers would be unable to attend due to extenuating circumstancesor would hand over the speaking part to their male colleagues.

6. Project outputs and dissemination

Conferences/Workshops:

2nd International ISCRAM-CHINA Workshop:Harbin Engineering University,August 26-27 2007

Attendee: Nuwan Waidyanatha, Project ManagerThe 2nd International Workshop on Information Systems for Crisis Response andManagement, in China (ISCRAM-CHINA-20071), is a post-conference meeting to the

International Disaster Reduction Conference2 (IDRC). ISCRAM-CHINA took place inHarbin from August 26-27, 2007. The ISCRAM-Community3 and the School ofEconomics and Management - Harbin Engineering University4 (HARBEU), jointlyorganized the conference. The Workshop provided an outstanding opportunity forresearchers, scholars, teachers, students, practitioners and policy makers in Chinaas well as invited International delegates to address and discuss new trends and

challenges in the area of Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management.

The subject matter dealt with aspect of design, development, deployment, operation,


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[email protected]


and evaluation of information systems for crisis response and management. Authorsfocused on tools, functionality, and/or interfaces that were being or should beprovided for human users involved with crisis response and management.

Contributions covered Crisis Response and Management in any phase, intersection

of phases, and/or integration of phases of the Emergency Management andPreparedness lifecycle: Planning, Training, Mitigation, Detection, Alerting, Response,Recovery, and Assessment.

Evaluating Last-Mile Hazard Information Dissemination: A Research Project, orHazInfo Project, research findings were presented during Session 1: InformationSystems along with 20 other papers that were presented in the same session. The

HazInfo paper titled Common Alerting Protocol Message Broker for Last-MileHazard Warning System in Sri Lanka: An Essential Component, edited by BartelVan de Walle ([email protected]), Xiaodi Li ([email protected]), and Shuyu

Zhang, was 1 of 115 papers published in the workshop proceedings, pages 59-64,selected from over 200 submissions. The residual session themes were Business/Organization, Public Organizations/Government, and Mathematical

Modeling.

The HazInfo paper that discussed cutting edge research in the use of CommonAlerting Protocol (CAP) was passionately received by the participants. Moreover,interested stakeholders expressed interest in collaborating in future research that isto be lead by LIRNEasia; especially in the development of the P2P MultilanguageCAP Broker for the region.

The Role of Telecom Operators and Broadcasters in a National PublicWarning System,BMICH, Sri Lanka, September 7, 2007

Attendees: Rohan Samarajiva, Natasha Udu-gama

The Role of Telecom Operators and Broadcasters in a National Public WarningSystem. On Friday, September 7, 2007, the Ministry of Disaster Management andHuman Rights (MDMHR), with the support of LIRNEasia, held a meeting on TheRole of Telecom Operators and Broadcasters in a National Public Warning Systemwith a six of the eight major telecom operators, as well as several disaster

management-related government agencies (NBRO, Irrigation Dept., Meteorology

Dept., CCP, etc.), UNDP, and a few technical institutes.

Mr. P.D. Amarasinghe, Secretary of the MDMHR, opened the session by discussingthe particular disaster role of each of the government agencies asked to attend. Heacknowledged the government s important role in disaster warning. The role of theDisaster Management Center (DMC) will be to disseminate warnings to firstresponders through various means RANet, SMS, and fax. First responders will bemedia, police and armed forces, district coordinators of DMC, and other

organizations (NGOs, community). Currently, the MDMHR is in the process of

developing a proposal for a network of dissemination towers at Hikkaduwa, Kalmunai

and Point Pedro. There will be a total of 50 by the end of this year (latest, Jan/Feb


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2008). With further funding, the MDMHR will establish 10 EOCs, 4 EMC, in additionto four managed by police & armed forces. Thus, he declared that the basic warningsystem is in place and asked how might the telecom operators contribute to a publicwarning notification system.

Major General Gamini Hettiarachchi, Director General of the DMC gave apresentation on the Disaster Early Warning and Dissemination Strategy of Sri Lanka.He reviewed the progress of disaster management since the tsunami, through the

Disaster Management Act No. 13 of 2005, and the establishment of the National

Council on Disaster Management in the same year. He stated that there are currently3 early warning towers, but by the end of next year there should be a total of 150.Emergency response committees have been formed including SLT, municipalities,25 district secretaries and 9 province secretaries.

Mr. Anjula Godakumbara from Dialog Telekom made a presentation on Dialogs

involvement in early warning dissemination. Dialog and the Ministry of DisasterManagement and Human Rights have signed an MoU. Dialog along with MicroImageand the University of Moratuwa Research Lab looked into using GSM communication

in disaster early warning dissemination by setting up the Disaster and Early WarningNetwork (DEWN). This has SMS and cell broadcast capabilities. The benefits of theDEWN system are that it is low-cost and uses existing communication infrastructure.Dialog reiterated the fact that only the DMC has the authority to send disasterwarnings. For more information on this initiative see www.dialog.lk/dewn.

Prof. Rohan Samarajiva, Executive Director LIRNEasia, gave a presentation on

Effective use of telecom & electronic media in disaster risk reduction. He askedhow will the DMC communicate with the media and the phone companies. Thegovernment must have internal protocols, which must be double-checked with

government officials. There must a technically sound system in place to get to allmedia and must be capable of showing if people got the message and in the rightlanguage. LIRNEasia recommends the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) system withadditional software, which is single input, multi-output, multi-language. LIRNEasiacan develop this within a few months. Essentially this means that once a button ispressed, the software will translate the message accordingly and send the message

by SMS, cell broadcast, fax, etc. The government is clearly interested in standardprocedures and templates. Therefore, it would be in its best interest to approve a

standard template in the language and simply insert the proper word as necessary.Prof. Samarajiva posed yet another question: How might the government ensure thatthe person issuing the warning is reliable and not someone who plans to sabotagethe process? There must be some sort of encryption or verification method so thatreceivers know that the warning is official.

In discussing the use of ICTs in public warning (an area not covered by the Last-Mile

HazInfo Project), Samarajiva suggested that two of the most difficult cases beaddressed: a passenger in a moving train and a tourist at the Yala National Park. Ifpublic warning can reach these two individuals, all the other less difficult problems

can be solved. In both cases, he suggested that cell broadcasting would be the mostimportant technology, though there may be areas within Yala that would be out of


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[email protected]


signal coverage, in which case no public warning was possible.

The discussion that followed the presentations. Mr. Hettiarachchi called for a link withservice providers to develop automated procedures. Secretary Amarasinghe

suggested that there be a technical committee set up for hearing recommendationson early warning from telecom providers and broadcasters. It was decided that there

would be two separate technical committees one for telecom providers and theother for broadcasters. Dates and agendas for the first technical committee meetingsof telecom providers and broadcasters were not discussed.

Mr. U.W.L. Chandradasa, Director DMC, wrapped up the session by reiterating thatthe DMC is responsible for disseminating warning messages. Regarding firstresponders, he agreed that other agencies could be involved. He acknowledged thatgovernment alone cannot take charge of Last Mile warning without the

contributions of telecom providers, broadcasters and the private sector.

1stWireless Rural and Emergency Communications Conference: Rome, Italy.October 1-2, 2007

Attendee: Dr. Gordon Gow, University of Alberta, Canada

The paper "Community-based Hazard Warnings in Rural Sri Lanka: Performance ofAlerting and Notification in a Last-Mile Message Relay," written by NuwanWaidyanatha (first author), Gordon Gow University of Alberta, and Peter Andersonfrom Simon Fraser University.

The paper presents research findings from HazInfo, where a subset of indicators iscompared for evaluating system design and performance of the LM-HWS. Inparticular, it introduces and defines measures for "reliability" and "effectiveness" forassessing the utility of technologies deployed in the last-mile of the HazInfo Project.The measures were applied to data gathered from exercises conducted with theHazInfo System to determine how various combinations of ICTs perform in terms ofalerting the ICT Guardians as well as conveying the contents of warning messages.

An important contribution of the paper is the concept of "complementaryredundancy." Test results using the reliability and effectiveness measures in the

study, showed that overall scores for end-user devices varied considerably andhighlighted some important concerns for user training and unforeseenimplementation issues. For example, addressable satellite radios rated high in terms

of reliability but relatively low in terms of effectiveness, as their messaging capability

is limited (English only) and because they are nomadic but not mobile, meaning thatthe units cannot accompany the ICT-G from place to place (thereby reducing thescore on the "Active Alerting" index). On the other hand, mobile phones scored highon effectiveness, with capability to display warning messages in three languages andbecause they are a form of personal media that will usually accompany the ICT-G atall times. However, mobile phones scored less reliably because of signal coverage

and battery maintenance issues.


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When combined, however, addressable satellite radio and mobile phone technologycompensate for each others deficiencies and produce a synergy we refer to in thepaper as "complementary redundancy." As such, results from the initial field testsand technology assessment suggest that appropriate combinations of wireless

technologies will provide the best performance if they exhibit complementaryredundancy. These results have a number of implications for emergency planners.

First, planners should consider deployment of multiple devices with the aim ofachieving complementary redundancy in reliability and effectiveness at the last-mile.Second, planners should adopt the Common Alerting Protocol because of its abilityto support the goal of complementary redundancy by providing consistent andcomplete messaging across multiple devices. Third, that research is needed to

further refine the reliability and effectiveness measures into a more robust index forassessing public warning technologies.

The paper presentation was well received and questions arose about securityprovisions in the HazInfo system. Security does remain a concern but that significantprogress has already been made with provisions included in the HazInfo CAP profileas well as lower layer security measures built into the various ICT gateways, such asthe WorldSpace satellite radio access

gateway.

The IEEE Communications Society and Italian communications vendor and defensecontractor Selex Communications sponsored WRECOM 2007. The aim of the

conference (Wireless and Rural Emergency Communications --WRECOM) was tobring together research on various facets of wireless broadband communications foremergencies and disasters, particularly in rural settings where infrastructure may be

limited or non-existent. To that end, various sessions covered wireless meshnetworks, WIMAX and TETRA technologies, satellite services, as well as operationalexperiences with emergencies and public safety networks. Being an IEEEconference, most sessions were technical at an engineering level and addressedspecialized topics such as routing protocols, transmission control, and technicalperformance analysis. Unfortunately, several important research papers (e.g., mesh

networking in rural areas) presented findings with no mention of the potentialapplication to emergency management! Mesh networking is not as easy as one

might be led to believe in the popular literature.

A study led by Nicholas Race from Lancaster University, for instance, has followedthe deployment of a mesh network in a small UK village for the past three years, withfindings that suggest governance issues are significant. However, the project also

noted that user interest and participation in the upkeep and active development ofthe network was enhanced in a mesh architecture setting. For the HazInfo project,these findings may shed some light on the challenge of long-term sustainability of the

system and for building local technical know-how and local capabilities to furtherintegrate the network into everyday activities beyond hazard warning.

Roberto Saracco from Telecom Italia spoke about several paradigms that might be


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[email protected]


applied to emergency communications services, such as load sharing, broadcasting,peer to peer, and bit/video torrents. He then went on to explain that the "layered" or"mashed" paradigm is growing in importance, with the likes of Google Maps and so

forth. Linking all these paradigms is a tension that emergency planners and

policymakers must content with; namely, the choice between piggybacking oncommercial networks and the deployment of dedicated infrastructure and services.Of course, the problem with the former is concerns about guaranteed quality ofservice during critical situations. The concern about the latter is cost and under-utilization. Somewhere in between--and perhaps this is where layered/mashedsystems come into play--is a balance between dedicated, specialized services andcost effectiveness.

The US and other countries are now dealing with these economics of emergencycommunications in terms of the next generation of first responder radio systems. In

terms of public warning, HazInfo has been innovative in terms of rethinking themodel. By choosing to implement an open source like Common Alerting Protocoland by working closely with industry stakeholders to connect communities using

everyday technologies, the project has in effect created a layered system that can infuture expand in functionality and scope through mash-up applications with, forexample, Google Earth for map sharing, as well as other applications as the needbecomes evident. The ongoing challenge is to take this to the next level through asustained research project that builds on the current achievement.

Sharing Knowledge on Last-Mile Warning: Community-based Last-MileWarning Systems: Dhaka, Bangladesh. October 25, 2007

Attendees: Rohan Samarajiva, Natasha Udu-gama, Nuwan WaidyanathaSharing Knowledge on Last-Mile Warning: Community-based Last-Mile Warning

Systems: The workshop took place in Dhaka on October 25, 2007. LIRNEasia andBangladesh Network Office for Urban Safety (BNUS) Bangladesh University ofEngineering and Technology jointly organized the Workshop. The Workshopprovided an outstanding opportunity for researchers, students, practitioners, andpolicy makers in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as well as invited international privatesector participants to address and discuss early warning activities from the South

Asia Region.

The focus was on: Obtaining feedback on the findings of Evaluating Last-Mile Hazard Warning

Dissemination: A Research Project, Exchanging lessons learned from end-to-end hazard detection and alerting

systems that serve grassroots communities in Bangladesh,

Merging knowledge from Bangladesh to develop practical solutions forcommunicating risk information to rural communities

Analyze and determine methodologies for measuring the performance ofCommunity-based Early Warning Systems

Commencing dialogue on the development of a regional last mile warning


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system.

The excitement started with heated debates between the academics and thebureaucrats. Dr. AMM Safiullah, Vice Chancellor of BUET acted as a moderator topoint out the mistakes made during past events and the need to upgrade existing

systems based on the lessons learned and not immerse in the glory of half bakedsystems. The Bangladeshi participants agreed on the proof that the existing systemsfor Cyclone preparedness do not apply to all-hazards; especially tsunami andearthquake; modification is eminent.

The audience had to be reminded constantly that the LIRNEasia tested Last-MileHazard Warning System was not a traditional warning system that is usually used bygovernments but it was a community-based model used for alert and notification.

The HazInfo project and other similar community-based hazard information systemscan only be responsible for providing clear and accurate hazard information alerts.

Another issue that arose from discussions, was whether individual nations within theSouth Asian region should replicate hazard analysis, leave that responsibility tointernational hazard analysis organizations (such as the Pacific Tsunami WarningCenter), or have a regional hazard analysis entity. Currently, Bangladesh is in theprocess of replicating similar tsunami models and earthquake risk maps alreadyavailable at international hazard analysis organizations. The much-studied Common

Alerting Protocol (CAP) used in the HazInfo project was new to the Bangladeshaudience. They are yet to understand the value and strengths of using this contentstandard.

Table 1 Presentations and notes from each of the sessionsPresentation Titleand Speaker Presentation Main Points

RapporteurNotes/Comments

Inauguration

Mr. K. M. Massud

Siddiqui, DirectorGeneral, DisasterManagementBureau (DMB)[email protected]

It is a tricky subject for government to make

early warning

Need to identify technical deficienciesLessons are not only for government policymakers but also must activate CBO, NGO,Private Sector, Civil Society, Medics, etcDG invited LIRNEasia to contact his bureau

for future collaborative workElements ofCommunity-based

warningProf. RohanSamarajiva,ExecutiveDirector,LIRNEasia

samarajiva@lirne.

net

ICTs play a key role in distancing thephysical world where hazards occur from the

symbolic world where media and firstresponders live giving time to alert the publicElements comprise national early warningcenter, government first-responders, media,communityCAP Broker a 1-to-many software application

is an essential non-existent component

essential for last-mile warningsPlanners must take in to consideration

Elements of

Community-basedwarningProf. Rohan

ICTs play a key role in distancing the

physical world where hazards occur from thesymbolic world where media and firstresponders live giving time to alert the public


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[email protected]


DiscussionDirector,BangladeshMeteorologicalDepartmentdirectorbmd2005

@yahoo.com

Cyclone warnings are initiated by theMeteorological departmentTsunami warnings are initiated by theGeological department, which was practicedduring Nias earthquake in March 2006 aswell as Bengkulu earthquake in September

2007Bulletin received from Japan had mentionedthat it would take 9 hours before tsunamiwould hit Bangladesh coast but did notmention wave height; hence ran simulationmodel to estimate wave parametersWarning was issued and withdrawn at 0120

September 12th Bangladesh Govt. instructedto play fail safe

Heated debatebetween director andaudience based onthe fact that expertswere not consultedprior to issuing

warningGeneral public wasforced to understandexpert knowledge inearly warning

Session I: LocalTransmission ofWarning

An Overview ofthe BangladeshCyclonePreparedness

Program

Mr. Md. Nasir

Ullah, Director,CyclonePreparednessProgram,

Bangladesh RedCrescent [email protected]

Overview of CPPCPP and ways in which local communitiesreceive information about cyclones through

BRCS extensive network of trainedvolunteers.Use of HF and VHF transmitters; HF for shortrange and VHF for long range

Street dramas best way of communityawareness

How are volunteerstrained to receiveand disseminate

cyclone information?1965 Cycloneshelters collapsedafter 5 years

because they werenot utilized duringnormal times

Current cycloneshelters are betterutilized as they areintegrated in to

schools

NuwanWaidyanatha

Project Manager,LIRNEasiaWaidyanatha@lir

ne.net

Presented data on transmission of warning tocommunities through the experience of the

HazInfo project.

DiscussionDr. AMM

Safiullah, ViceChancellor, [email protected]

d

Need to perfect warning and avoid falsewarnings

Warnings are ineffective if too manysimulation models have to be run to predictsituation

Need schemes for better predictionCommunicated message has to be precise

Is cyclone warningsystem applicable to

all-hazards?Need to addressvulnerable area,

clarify meaning ofwarning

DiscussionDr. AMMSafiullah, ViceChancellor, BUET

Need to perfect warning and avoid falsewarningsWarnings are ineffective if too manysimulation models have to be run to redict

Is cyclone warningsystem applicable toall-hazards?Need to address


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Session II:Determination ofHazard fromNational Level

Determination of

Hazard fromNational LevelProf. Aftab AlamKhan, Departmentof Geology,Dhaka Universityaftab@univdhaka.

edu

Tsunami and Earthquake must be given highpriority in BangladeshLow land, 1 2 ft above sea level land areain Bangladesh vulnerable to sea surge andhigh tidal wavesBangladesh Meteorological Dept. must be

authority for cyclone, flood, and tidalwarnings but this formal method is not yetdecidedDART system is inaccurate as the bottompressure sensor and surface buoy can beactivated by other phenomenon; hence,cannot accurately predict tsunami

Limitation on DART system must beunderstood

Tsunamis cannot be modeled simply with theuse of Laplace and Gaussian equations needto consider other factorsEarthquake hazard warning cannot yet bedonealmost entire Bangladesh coastal region is

free from any potential tsunami threat.

Determination ofHazard fromNational Level: Sri

Lanka ExperienceNatasha Udu-gama, ProjectDissemination

Manager,[email protected]

Drew comparisons between governmentaction in Sri Lanka during the Indian Oceantsunami of 26 December 2004 and the

tsunami warning of 12 September 2007National level maybe able to use andintegrate elements of the HazInfo projectalerting structure in its monitoring and

warning relay systems.

Mr. Sujit KumarDebsarma, Pr.Meteorologist and

System Manager,[email protected]

Tsunami modeled using propagation ofgravity waves; better to be modeled usingvertical azimuth of pulses

Low bandwidth and slow speeds inBangladesh prevents acquisition of highresolution data for accurate simulations

Session III: FirstResponder Action

Discussed the CDMP-BUET project on theDevelopment Tsunami and Earthquake

Session III: FirstResponder ActionFirst Responder

Discussed the CDMP-BUET project on theDevelopment Tsunami and EarthquakePreparedness for Coxs Bazaar within the


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[email protected]


First ResponderActionNuwanWaidyanathaProject Manager,LIRNEasia

[email protected]

Discussed the full process of first responderaction from the Hazard Information Hubthrough to the Emergency Response PlanCoordinators

Session IV:Methodology,Preparedness,

CommunityOrganization andTrainingWorldSpace EarlyWarning Systems

Dr. S.Rangarajan,Senior VicePresident,WorldSpace [email protected]

Overview of the various satellite radiosystems available from WorldSpaceCorporation for use in warning systems.

During his interactive presentation, Dr.Rangarajan showed the various systems andtheir configurations.

Methodology,Preparedness,

CommunityOrganization andTraining: HazInfoExperienceNatasha Udu-gama, Project

DisseminationManager,

[email protected]

et

Screening of The Long Last Mile (HazInfovideo)The video gave a comprehensive

overview of the background of the project, itsinception and implementation in Sri Lanka.Summary of best practices in training,community organization, methodology andpreparedness demonstrated within HazInfoproject.

Session V: NextStepsRoles ofpolicymakers,

regulators, private

sector and civilsociety

Working with incomplete probabilisticinformationCannot do disaster management work onusual turf based politics

Early warning should give priority to rapid

onset hazards, which will be a catalyst tosolving other hazard warning events

Sri Lanka hasrecorded history of 8

9 tsunamis in thepast

Session V: NextSteps

Roles ofpolicymakers,regulators, private

Working with incomplete probabilisticinformation

Cannot do disaster management work onusual turf based politicsEarly warning should give priority to rapid

Sri Lanka hasrecorded history of 8

9 tsunamis in thepast


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The workshop initiated much healthy debate and discussion on the issue of earlywarning, particularly on the governments provision of early warning to Bangladeshicommunities. Government officials in attendance were most vociferous in defendingexisting EW infrastructure particularly its monitoring and detection equipment.

What was lacking, however, was government acknowledgement and interest inequipping the last mile to respond effectively to warnings.

Mr. Md. Nasir Ullah of the Cyclone Preparedness Program (CPP) described an earlywarning system very much akin to the HazInfo system in that it utilized informationtechnology (i.e. transistor radios) and trained locals (i.e. militia or Ansars). The most

significant difference between the two systems is the use of transistor radios in CPP-Bangladesh, while the technology stressed in HazInfo is a combination of technology

mobile and satellite radio.

19th Meeting of the Wireless World Research Forum: Indian Institute ofTechnology, Madras, November 2007

Attendees: Nuwan Waidyantha, HazInfo Project Manager

The Forum took place in Le Meridien Hotel from November 5 - 7, 2007. Theconference was jointly organized by the WWRF, Midas, and the Indian Institute of

Technology - Madras. The forum provided an outstanding opportunity forresearchers, scholars, operators, original-equipment-manufacturers and policy

makers working in the area of wireless communications to present and discuss thetrends of the various technologies, latest research/developments, andservices/applications in the field. The forum offered several Plenary Sessions,Working Groups (WG), and Special Interest Groups (SIG), which focused on

disciplines within the global wireless communications community.

In general the theme was to shape the global wireless future by develop a commonvision for the year 2020. Moreover, the forum focused on influencing the decisionmakers views of the wireless world, enable powerful R&D collaborations, andadvance wireless frontiers to serve the global customers. A main aspect of all the

speakers was on the need to optimize the Kilo Bytes per second per Hertz per Cell(KB/Sec/Hz/Cell) in order to achieve very high spectrum efficiencies. The routes tothe wireless future are WiMax (802.16) for the IT community and 3GPP/LTE for the

Telecommunication community. In terms of commercial roll out, technologies such ascognitive radio are beyond the 2020. The overall impression exemplified by theexperts is that wireless broadband such as WiMax could not replace the kind ofcapacity and services that are offered by wired broadband such as DSL in thepresent day of the game. In all cases the backhaul problem cannot be neglected.

Overall forum was quite intriguing especially to see the actual progress of cuttingedge wireless technologies such as WiMax, LTE, etc that are paving the way for the

communication industries to take them to the next level. Most importantly theresearchers laid out the truth about the shortcomings and the realistic potential of the


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[email protected]


innovative technologies, which seem to defy theoretical frameworks. If not had beenexposed to this forum the knowledge and awareness of the current state of affairs inthe wireless world would have been oblivious and backwards.

Two papers submitted by authors from LIRNEasia were accepted for presentation in2 different working groups and publication in forum proceedings. The first paper titledChallenges of Optimizing Common Alerting Protocol for SMS based GSM Devices4was an output of the Evaluating Last-Mile Hazard Information DisseminationProject (or HazInfo Project) research findings, which were presented in the WG1:Human Perspectives and Service Concepts. The second paper titled Wireless MeshNetworking as a means of connecting rural communities was based on the design

considerations of implementing the mesh network at Mahavilachchiya, Sri Lanka.Both papers were based on practical field level experiences. As a result they werewell received by the audience and were inquisitive of the practical issues that

sometimes defy the theoretical frameworks.

Sharing Knowledge on Last-Mile Warning: Community-Based Last-MileWarning Systems: New Delhi, November 19, 2007

Attendees: Rohan Samarajiva, Nuwan Waidyanatha, Natasha Udu-gama

This report presents a summary of the Sharing Knowledge on Last-Mile Warning:

Community-Based Last-Mile Warning Systems workshop which took place at theIndia Habitat Centre in New Delhi, India on 19 November 2007 from 9:30am - 4pm.The All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI) and LIRNEasiajointly organized

the workshop. This workshop proved to be an ideal venue for the dissemination offindings from the Evaluating Last-Mile Hazard Information Dissemination pilotproject in India through an intimate gathering of practitioners, private sector,international organizations, local NGOs, and government.

The primary objectives were: Obtaining feedback on the findings of Evaluating Last-Mile Hazard Warning


systems that serve grassroots communities in India,

Merging knowledge from India to develop practical solutions for communicating

risk information to rural communities Analyze and determine methodologies for measuring the performance of

Community-based Early Warning Systems Commencing dialogue on the development of a regional last mile warning

system.

This workshop proved to be one in which the participants engaged well throughoutthe duration of the days proceedings. Participants showed great enthusiasm for thesubject of the workshop and the findings presented by LIRNEasia. The presentationsand discussions were well on topic and discussions were fruitful and highly

informative. As expected, discussion topics were not relegated to their individual


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sessions, rather, discussion on the overall topic of community-based early warningsystems and the particular role of the HazInfo pilot project dominated all sessions.

Media attention was much higher than in the previous workshop in Bangladesh, dueto having a public relations manager for this event. Press kits were prepared and

distributed to journalists who joined the workshop proceedings throughout the day.Media outlets such as MINT publications (Wall Street Journal) and Indian Expresswere just some of the up to seven outlets that interviewed LIRNEasiaon the HazInfopilot project.

Session Title Presenter Title and CommentsInaugurationOpening Remarks

Mehul Pandya, Risk ReductionTransfer Initiative Coordinator,

AIDMI, [email protected],Natasha Udu-gama,

[email protected] Last Mile

Video ScreeningThe video provided asound basis for theaudiencesunderstanding of theworkshops main topic,

Evaluating Last-MileHazard InformationDissemination pilotproject.

Opening Address:Elements of acommunity-basedwarning system

Dr. Rohan Samarajiva, ExecutiveDirector, [email protected]

Reviewed the basicelements of acommunity-based earlywarning system. Thedisaster cycle, earlywarning chains

(standard vs. HazInfo),reasons for this type ofsystem, overview ofHazInfo results andimplications forregionalization.

Session I MethodologyPreparedness,Training andCommunityOrganization

P. PrasadChief ConsultantWelfare Organization for RuralLean Development (WORLD)

ICT Application inCommunity-Based EarlyWarning System. Mr.Prasad gave an

overview of naturalhazards in AndhraPradesh. His primarypoint was that WORLDhas found a huge gap in

the dissemination ofhazard information from


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[email protected]


the mandallevel to thevillages despite wirelessand other ICTcommunications

systems available to thenational and state levelsystems.

Mr. Menake Wijesinghe, ProgramDirector, Sarvodaya Community

Disaster Management [email protected]

Discussion Sarvodayasrole in the HazInfo

project particularly interms of formulation ofmethodology,participation in training,community organization

and preparedness.Session II Transmission ofWarning to LocalLevels

Vijay Pratap Singh AdityaEkgaon Technologies pvt. [email protected]

Mr. Aditya gave athorough overview of thecommunications policies

governing disseminationof hazard information.He explained the keyacts and policies andhow and why theysometimes enable and

disable appropriatehazard informationdissemination to thosethat require theinformation most thelast-mile. He claimed

that LIRNEasiaandSarvodaya would not beable to implement a pilot

such as HazInfo in Indiabecause need for astrong interface with alocal (governmental)institution.


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Natasha Udu-gama, LIRNEasia Transmission ofWarnings to Local

Levels: HazInfoExperience. Outlinedthe differences between

a traditional alertingsystem and HazInfo.Explained the HazInfoinput applications and

terminal devices,Common AlertingProtocol (CAP),Calculation of certaintyand efficiency andresults from HazInfo in

determining the mosteffective methods for

transmitting warnings tocommunities.

Session III FirstResponder Action

Suresh MariaselvamCoordination and NetworkingAssociateTamil Nadu Tsunami ResourceCentre (TNTRC)[email protected]

Gave an overview ofTNTRCs aidcoordination andcommunity capacitydevelopment in disasterrisk management in

Tamil Nadu. Explainedthe role of villageinformation centers,community radio and ICTinitiatives by sector inobtaining most effectivelast-mile connectivity.

Natasha Udu-gama, LIRNEasia First Responder Actionin HazInfo. Explainedfirst responders in the

context of HazInfo thengave descriptions of firstresponder roles andmethods ofdissemination.

Session IV

Determination ofHazard fromNational Level

Nuwan Waidyanatha, HazInfoProject Manager, [email protected]

Determination of Hazardfrom the National Level:Sri Lanka Experience.Drew comparisons ongovernment action

between Dec. 26, 2004

and Sept. 12, 2007 anddescribed how the


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[email protected]


HazInfo pilot might helpin structuring a nationalearly warning system tobe effective throughout

the EWS chain.Dr. K.J. Ramesh, Advisor,Ministry of Earth Sciences,Government of [email protected]

-Push-throughtechnology: GenevaTechnologies works withWorldSpace Corp. to

enable alerts to be sentin up to 24 languages.- 24 State governmentlevels have a toll-freecalling number

Session V: NextSteps

Dr. Rohan Samarajiva,LIRNEasia

Roles of policymakers,regulators, private sectorand civil society.Organizational problems

must be solved for EWtechnologies to be fullyrealized. Early warningmust be complementedby preparedness,evacuation plans, etc.

Reiterated the need forthe government to takethe lead in providingearly warning. Privatesector and civil societycan support and

strengthen.

Mehul Pandya, AIDMI Lessons for EarlyWarning from TsunamiEvaluation. DiscussedAIDMIs role in the

Tsunami EvaluationCoalition


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Mihir R. BhattHonorary Director

All India Disaster MitigationInstitute (AIDMI)[email protected]

Discussed whether earlywarning is early enough

or not. He then went onto talk on designing anearly warning system

and developing astrategy for an EWsystem saying that itmust be an iterative

process anorganization cannothave a prototype and

just do, it must besimultaneous. Bhattspoke of having a pre-

mortem declaring afailure prior to a launch

of an early warningsystem.

Media CoveragePress kits were prepared for up to 15 journalists that included copies of all the

presentations and electronic copies of LIRNEasias presentations.Several journalists joined the HazInfo workshop during its proceedings over the

course of the day.

Between 6-7 media interviews followed the workshop proceedings, includingone for NDTV and a Hindi channel.Questions brought up by media:

o Who is following through in India, where all the focus has been onhazard detection and monitoring?

o Do you realize that getting such a system operational in India will beextremely complex because of center-state issues, etc.?

o Are there plans to do a pilot in India?o Plans for more dissemination?

SummaryLike the HazInfo workshop in Dhaka, Bangladesh, the Indian workshop provokedmuch discussion on the use of technology in the last mile of an early warning

system. Several small community-based organizations invited as speakers at the

workshop, particularly TNTRC and WORLD, noted the use of village informationcenters and community radio in reaching the last mile. WORLD mentioned that theuse of ICT has not breached the information gap between the mandallevel and thevillage level. This signifies that thought there is an acknowledgement of the use ofICTs to leverage greater participation at the last mile, the importance of training andactive community participation has not been stressed enough. In comparison,

HazInfo has not only stressed the usage of dual, complementing technologies (i.e.mobile and satellite radio) complementary redundancy but it has also highlighted


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[email protected]


the utmost importance of a comprehensive training regime with adequate inclusion ofICTs. The Indians were most receptive to the concept of complementary redundancyintroduced by HazInfo. The number of early warning initiatives in India struck HazInfo

researchers, mainly by the fact that many of them were unaware or had few ties to

initiatives in other parts of the country. For a community-based early warning systemto be successful, it will be crucial that various initiatives start meeting and workingtogether. The HazInfo workshop has provided that meeting ground for these nationalinitiatives, while informing them of an international model (HazInfo) to optimize theuse of technology and training within their systems.

Sharing Knowledge on Last-Mile Warning: Community-Based Last-MileWarning Systems: Jakarta, Indonesia. March 5, 2008

Attendees: Rohan Samarajiva, Natasha Udu-gama, Nuwan Waidyanatha

A Sharing Knowledge on Last-Mile Warning: Community-Based Last-Mile WarningSystems workshop took place at the Hotel Borobudur in Jakarta, Indonesia inpartnership with the Indonesian Institute for Disaster Preparedness (IIDP). Theworkshop provided an opportunity to discuss and share the findings of theEvaluating Last-Mile Hazard Warning Dissemination: A Research Project (HazInfo)with Indonesian counterparts while at the same time learning about similar initiatives

and community-based hazard warning systems.

The primary objectives were: Obtaining feedback on the findings of Evaluating Last-Mile Hazard Warning


systems that serve grassroots communities in Indonesia,

Merging knowledge from Indonesia to develop practical solutions for

communicating risk information to rural communities Analyze and determine methodologies for measuring the performance of

Community-based Early Warning Systems Commencing dialogue on the development of a regional last mile warning

system.

OBSERVATIONS AND COMMENTS

Overall, the workshop went well despite earlier setbacks (i.e. planning for theworkshop to be on 30 January, speakers dropping out at the last minute, etc.). IIDPdid an excellent job in organizing the event in Jakarta and finding a range ofspeakers from government to community-based organizations.

The workshop began approximately 20 minutes late due to waiting for participants

and some speakers. Workshop agendas were not printed and distributed prior to theevent commencement, and when they were distributed the version was incorrect.Due to a late start, group discussion following each session had to be cut and put atthe end of the workshop. This precluded asking questions on particular parts of the

HazInfo research and their comparisons with the Indonesian experiences.


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Session Title Presenter Title and CommentsInaugurationOpening Remarks

Ms. Chandra Lukitasari,Executive Director, [email protected]

Made some openingcomments to participantsand speakers including a

brief introduction ofLIRNEasia participants.

Dr. Ir. Tatag Wiranto, MURP,Deputy Minister for Economicand Private BusinessDevelopment and Chairman,Board of Advisors, [email protected]

Gave opening remarks onthe 4th anniversary ofIIDPs existence.

Long Last MileVideo Screening

The video provided asound basis for the

audiences understanding

of the workshops maintopic, Evaluating Last-Mile Hazard InformationDissemination pilotproject.

Opening Address:Elements of a

community-basedwarning system

Dr. Rohan Samarajiva,Executive Director, [email protected]

Reviewed the basicelements of a community-based early warningsystem. The disaster

cycle, early warningchains (standard vs.HazInfo), reasons for this

type of system, overviewof HazInfo results andimplications forregionalization.

Aceh TsunamiVictims Testimonial

Ms. Titi Moektajasih, UNOCHA Gave a brief overview ofthe impact of the 2004

tsunami in Aceh from apersonal perspective.

Session I MethodologyPreparedness,Training andCommunityOrganization

Jan Sopaheluwakan, Ph. D.,Indonesian Institute ofSciences (LIPI)

From EmergencyResponse to CommunityPreparedness. Prof.Sopaheluwakan discussedthe involvement of LIPI in

monitoring and detection,warning and communitypreparedness. He noted

that Indonesia is takingthe lead on driving the

process of early warning.It has been most


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[email protected]


interested in pushingpreparedness, mitigationand response within

community preparedness.

He discussed 4 mainelements of community-based early warningsystems:Risk knowledgeMonitoring of EWDissemination &

CommunicationResponse Capability (Canpeople evacuate?)

There are 3 spheres:Environmental -> oceanmonitoring

Social -> early warningEconomic -> tsunamipreparednessLIPI does communitypreparedness and publiceducation.Prof. Jan discussed the

National Frameworkdeveloped by LIPI inconjunction with UNESCOand ISDR. He went on toexplain the IOC-UNESCOend-to-end system. Heintroduced the audience to

the LIPI hourglassconcept where warningand emergency responsemeet at a critical point but

are not mutually inclusive.He showcased lessonslearned from the 2007intervention and

community expectation onTWS. To sum, hediscussed challenges andrecommendations notingthat no agreements haveyet been made at the

national level.


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Natasha Udu-gama,Dissemination Manager HazInfo, [email protected]

Discussion of the HazInfoproject from theperspective ofmethodology, participationin training, community

organization andpreparedness.

Session II FirstResponder Action

Mrs. Patra Rina Dewi, M.Sc.,Executive Director, [email protected]

Tsunami Early WarningSystem: Lessons Learnedfrom Padang City. Mrs.Dewi gave acomprehensive overviewof disaster preparedness

in Padang, Sumatra. Shementioned that Padang

was not affected by the2004 tsunami but that therisk to both tsunami andearthquake is the highestin the world. Evacuationtime in Padang is only 30

minutes. Early warningmust be lightning fast tonotify the denselypopulated city. She

discussed an idealTsunami Early WarningSystem (TEWS) to meet

the particular needs andconcerns of Padang.Noted that electricitywould be an issue formany technologiesdeployed for early warning

(i.e. RA-Net). Currentwarnings and information

from government isinconsistent andincomplete. Shehighlighted that education,particularly among

children, is key to thesuccess of early warningsystems.

Nuwan Waidyanatha, ProjectManager, HazInfo, LIRNEasia

[email protected]

Transmission ofWarnings to Local Levels:

HazInfo Experience.Outlined the differences


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[email protected]


between a traditionalalerting system andHazInfo. Explained the

HazInfo input applications

and terminal devices,Common Alerting Protocol(CAP), Calculation ofcertainty and efficiencyand results from HazInfoin determining the mosteffective methods for

transmitting warnings tocommunities.

Session III

Transmission ofWarning to LocalLevels

Mr. Aim Zein, Padang Advisor,

GTZ - GITEWS

An Experience from

Padang. Mr. Zein notedthat warningdissemination only allows

for 10-20 minutes reactiontime. Discussed the RDS(Radio Data System) andsaid that radio is mosteffective to override othertechnological deficiencies,particularly in Padang

where at least one radiocan be found in everyhouse. DiscussedRABAB, a local radioinnovation, based on theneed for guidance andinformation following a

warning. RABAB is basedon walkie-talkieinformation beingtransmitted by repeater to

radio; either live or pre-recorded on FM 99.9.Current warning consistsof SMS only. Future

warning system should beRAP1 (Citizen Band RadioBroadcast). Most inPadang are already awareof what to do in the eventof an earthquake.


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Drs. Sunarjo, MSc.Kepala Pusat Sistem Data danInformasi Geofisika, Bureau ofMeteorology and Geophysics(BMG) [email protected]

The BMG is responsiblefor the first 5 minutes of adisaster. Afterwards, otherinstitutions areresponsible. RA-Net has a

2-minute delay and isinstalled in more than 100locations throughoutIndonesia. They haveSMS and radiodissemination systems the technology used ismore advanced than that

of the GoSL. They saythat the problem with SMS

is the 150-character limit(CAP could solve this).There is also a tsunamisiren network consisting ofboth federal andTELKOMSEL (largest

national telecom provider)sirens. The localgovernment is the one thatdecides to push the

button or not. Since bothpolice and army aredeployed 24/7 the

government works closelywith them to beresponsible for assistingat all levels.

Session IV Determination ofHazard fromNational Level

Natasha Udu-gama,Dissemination Manager

HazInfo, LIRNEasia, [email protected]

Determination of Hazardfrom the National Level:

Sri Lanka Experience.Drew comparisons on

government actionbetween Dec. 26, 2004and Sept. 12, 2007 anddescribed how the HazInfopilot might help in

structuring a national earlywarning system to beeffective throughout the

EWS chain.

Dr. Ir. M. Dirhamsyah, Director,

Tsunami and DisasterMitigation Research Center

Dr. Dirhamsyah explained

that an MoU has beensigned with several other


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[email protected]


(TDMRC), Syiah KualaUniversity,[email protected]

universities in February2005 on coordination forearly warning systems. He

explained the TEWS

framework, DRRframework (policy, non-structural and structuralelements), the work ofSyiah Kuala University intsunami and disastermitigation, their annual

regional meeting inDecember and the DRR-A(Disaster Risk Reduction

for Aceh) project.Session V: NextSteps

Dr. Rohan Samarajiva,Executive Director, LIRNEasia,

[email protected]

Roles of policymakers,regulators, private sector

and civil society.Organizational problemsmust be solved for EWtechnologies to be fullyrealized. Early warningmust be complemented bypreparedness, evacuation

plans, etc. Reiterated theneed for the governmentto take the lead inproviding early warning.Private sector and civilsociety can support andstrengthen.

Kusuma Adinugroho, SeniorProgramme Officer, CrisisPrevention and Recovery Unit,[email protected]

Mr. Adinugroho asmoderator gave briefsummaries following eachsession. Here he gave a

summary of pointsdiscussed throughout theworkshop and theirimplications for Indonesia.

Discussion and Lessons Learned

The group discussion at the end of the workshop served to sum up the main pointsof the workshop. Mr. Kusuma Adinugroho of UNDP led the discussion by askingparticipants to review the questions posed in the workshop agenda and flesh outissues that had arisen during the workshop. Mr. Adinugroho made copious notes

during the workshop so that group discussion turned out to be both interesting and


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fruitful.

What is the cost of the technologies used in the HazInfo pilot? [Nuwan Waidyanathagave an approximate cost for each of the technologies]

Are communities still panicking despite disaster preparedness?[Patra Rina Dewi, KOGAMI] Despite having many earthquakes in Padang, those thatare uneducated and untrained still panic. However, children who have been trainedand educated tend to educate others.[UNESCO] Since disasters can happen at any time there must be a disastercurriculum. The problem is the lack of education on disasters. There should bescheduled table-tops and/or drills, there should be good dissemination of technicalknowledge and know-how. Despite having a national certification for training officials,

trainers do not always have disaster management experience and expertise. This isessential.

Training:

[KOGAMI] Training must be culturally appropriate. The trainer must be able to adaptto the local culture. In some places KOGAMI can approach local government directlyabout these issues, but in other cases, it must first approach the religious/traditionalleader of the community who would then approach the local government. Every

school now has different Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs); SOPs must bestandard throughout and is key to disaster risk reduction in communities.[LIRNEasia] Since Sarvodaya trainers are young and oftentimes have difficultygetting through to village committees comprised mainly of elderly females, they train

through asking pertinent questions. Other problems faced by trainers include castedifferences. HazInfo is highly context specific; local knowledge in communities is ofthe utmost importance. However, in some cases, where communities requested

certain items like loudspeakers, neither the item nor money was given. Communitieshad to figure out how to disseminate with the resources in existence.[IIDP] Does community-based training exist for communities in Padang?[KOGAMI] Still in process. Only 35% completed so far, but optimistically this will becompleted in the long run. Religious leaders play a very important role in makingdecisions.

How many people are ready to accept EW systems?

[GTZ] BMG sends messages to first responders, etc. and others interested.[University of Surabaya] In East Java, mountains are erupting. The government giveswarning but some people are refusing to evacuate. There is rampant distrust ofgovernment because of the number of false warnings. High tech. vs. local warningsystems is also an issue.

[UNESCO] Emphasize education. It is impossible to change the paradigm withinlocal societies entirely. There are many false warnings in Indonesia because the GoIshares information, but warnings are not fully developed.

[KOGAMI] Police and army should have similar approaches to DRR regardingspecific scenarios.

Currently, how long does warning reach communities?[KOGAMI] SMS = 5-7 minutes; when electricity goes out the TV is useless


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[email protected]


[Syiah Kuala] In Aceh, when warning was given there was no information at all.

Recommendations to the Organizers Presentations must be received prior to workshop commencement. This has

been an ongoing problem; speakers must be forced to take the workshopseriously.

Workshop documentation, such as programs, must be printed and distributedprior to the onset of the workshop.

Coordination with partner organization needs to be improved. There must be areliable contact who will keep documentation received updated and share

necessary documents. Ensure that the partner organization is equipped with necessary technical

equipment (such as computer, recorder, etc.) for timely and accurate

proceedings. Start the workshop at a later time. Nine oclock start times are difficult in

several parts of Asia.

Having one moderator in this workshop turned out to be more efficient. It isbest to have a moderator who is not a speaker but experienced in the subjectmatter.

GK3 Session ET4: Emerging Technologies Session on Making CommunitiesDisaster Resilient: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. December 11, 2007

Attendees: Rohan Samarajiva, Nuwan Waidyanatha, Natasha Udu-gama, Vinya

Ariyaratne (Sarvodaya), Michael De Soyza (Dialog Telekom), Mala Rao(WorldSpace)

The ET4: Emerging Technologies Session on Making Communities Disaster

Resilient took place on 11 December from 16:00 to 17:30 at the Kuala LumpurConvention Center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The session addressed how analliance of civil society and private sector organizations since the 2004 Indian Oceantsunami have been striving to develop a robust solution for strengthening communityresilience in the face of natural disasters. Efforts have ranged from technologicalinnovation, such as remotely activated warning devices, to field simulations. Initiated

pilot projects can now provide real data to support implementation.

Panelists shared learning for regional scaling-up of these pilots through discussion,videos and actual equipment demonstrations. The pilots highlighted were the satelliteradio from WorldSpace and the GSM-based warning device developed by DialogTelekom, University of Moratuwa and MicroImage.

This session addressed the following key questions:

What would be the new thinking on private supply of public goods, newtechnologies and novel forms of community involvement?

How can the essential public good of hazard warning be produced in adequate


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quantities and quality?Why do governments appear to have other priorities? How can communities

organize themselves to become disaster resilient?How can the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) be successfully implemented in

a multi-technology, multi-language, multi-country environment like the Bay of

Bengal region?

Panelists included:Vinya Ariyaratne, Executive Director, Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement of Sri

LankaNatasha Udu-gama, Former Consultant, Sarvodaya Community-based Disaster

Management Centre / HazInfo Project Dissemination Manager, LIRNEasia

Nuwan Waidyanatha, Project Manager, LIRNEasia

Mala Rao, Manager Closed User Group Solution, WorldSpace Corporation(India)

Michael De Soyza, Senior Manager, Corporate Responsibility and Public Policy,Dialog Telekom PLC

Moderator:Rohan Samarajiva, Executive Director, LIRNEasia

CPRsouth2 Empowering rural communities through ICT policy and research:Chennai, India, December 15-18, 2007

Attendees: Rohan Samarajiva, Nuwan Waidyanatha, Natasha Udu-gama

The HazInfo project was presented during session 5 National and RegionalInnovation Systems on December 15, 2007. Nuwan Waidyanatha presented hispaper on Last-Mile Hazard Warning System in Sri Lanka: Performance of the ICTFirst Responder Training Regime and Natasha Udu-gama presented her paper on

A Last-Mile Hazard Warning System for disaster risk reduction in Sri Lankan

villages: Community organization.

Nuwan Waidyanathas paper explained that the Sri Lankan experience shows thatthe LM-HWS is neither efficient nor effective without competent human capacity atthe message-relays: Hazard-Information-Hub and Last-Mile Communities; anecessary condition to supplement the deficit of an end-to-end automated alertingsystem. Despite the training that was offered to the Hazard-Information-Hub Monitors

and Community ICT Guardians; their performance was well bellow the 95%benchmark. The project identifies that the Common Alerting Protocol intensive ICTbased last-Mile alerting and notification system requires periodically repeatedtraining and certification to improve the reliability and effectiveness of the humanresources who are entrusted with mission critical LM-HWS processes.

Natasha Udu-gamas paper discussed the hypothesis during the pilot phase that

purported Sarvodaya level 4 villages would use and perform better with the ICTs

than levels 1-3. Evidence found through the pilot demonstrates the congruitybetween highly organized communities and a better understanding and adoption of


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[email protected]


wireless technologies. It addressed why community organization is significant toSarvodaya and the HazInfo project within the context of disaster risk reduction,preliminary findings from the pilot supporting this argument, and policy

recommendations for stakeholders.

GK3 Session Paper Promoting Community Disaster Resilience throughTechnology, Training and Community Empowerment: The HazInfo Experience

GK3 organizers asked that a session paper be prepared for the MakingCommunities Disaster Resilient. The session paper entitled Promoting CommunityDisaster Resilience through Technology, Training and Community Empowerment:The HazInfo Experience discussed the main themes of community and technologydefining HazInfo that have contributed to the success of the pilot and ways in which

the expansion of the project may contribute to sustainability and disaster resiliency at

the community level while utilizing appropriate information communicationtechnologies (ICTs).

CPRsouth2: Empowering rural communities through ICT policy and researchIIT-Madras, Chennai, India; December 14-18, 2007

Session 5 National and regional innovation systems

Attendees: Natasha Udu-gama, Nuwan Waidyanatha

This session was chaired by Prof. Myeong Cheol Park (South Korea) and thediscussant was Prof. Harmeet Sawhney (USA). Three papers were presented by

Nuwan Waidyanatha (Sri Lanka) onLast-Mile Hazard Warning System in Sri Lanka:Performance of the ICT First Responder Training Regime, Natasha Udu-gama (Sri

Lanka/USA) on A Last-Mile Hazard Warning System for disaster risk reduction in SriLankan villages: Community organization, and Bernard Francis Chogi (Kenya) onThe impact of mobile phone technologies on Medium and Small Enterprises/Jua Kali

(MSEs).

Nuwan Waidyanathas presentation on the Last-Mile Hazard Warning System(LMHWS) in Sri Lanka focused on the lessons learned during the pilot phase of theproject, which established the networking capability for 30 tsunami-affected

communities with a heterogeneous deployment of five ICTs. One of the key lessonswas the fact that the LM-HWS was neither efficient nor effective without competenthuman capacity at the message-relays, a necessary condition to supplement thedeficit of an end-to-end automated alerting system. Nuwans presentation showedthat despite their training, the First Responders performance was well bellow the95% benchmark.

The presentation made by Natasha Udu-gama, on the same test case describedabove by Nuwan, provided insight into the organizational aspects of the pilot.Natashas study provided evidence that demonstrated the congruity between highlyorganized communities and a better understanding and adoption of wireless

technologies deployed. The presentation also addressed why community


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organization was significant to Sarvodaya and the HazInfo project within the contextof disaster risk reduction, the preliminary findings from the pilot supporting thisargument, and policy recommendations for stakeholders.

Francis presented the findings of a survey conducted in Nairobi, Kenya, which

looked at the socio-technical dimension of using mobile phones in micro and smallenterprises (commonly referred to as jua kali businesses), and the socio-economicimpacts it had on the urban micro entrepreneurs in Kenya. The study also discussedthe various ways in which mobile phones had transformed the micro enterprises inNairobi.

Discussant Prof. Sawhney believed that a more comprehensive literature reviewshould have been carried out with regard to the two disaster management papers; he

was also of the opinion that the papers presented in this session were not ready forjournal publication yet.

IDRCs Regional Director for South Asia and China Stephen McGurk said that hewas doubtful of Sarvodaya's role and contribution to the Last Mile project; heexplained that more discussion needed to be made on their contributions to theproject as well as how the pilot will continue. Another participant questioned howLast-Mile project contributed to sustainability.

HazInfo Documentary: The Long Last Mile

The Long Last Mile video documentary, produced by TV-E Asia-Pacific, for

LIRNEasiawas completed in October 2007. The video features Sarvodaya footagefrom the pilot project; excerpts of interviews with Dr. Rohan Samarajiva, ExecutiveDirector LIRNEasia, and Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne, Executive Director Sarvodaya;and, a thorough synopsis of the methodology and technologies tested and deployedduring the pilot.

HazInfo DVD Distribution

The Long Last Mile DVD was distributed to fifty-three (53) partners and

organizations in the early warning and disaster risk reduction fields all over the world.A list of these partners and organizations can be found in Appendix B.

Conference Papers Accepted, Not Attended:

4th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response andManagement (ISCRAM) Delft, 13-16 May 2007

The HazInfo paper on CAP titled Hazard Warnings in Sri Lanka: Challenges ofInternetworking with Common Alerting Protocol has been published in the ISCRAMproceedings. The conference took place from 13-16 May 2007 in Delft, The

Netherlands. The final program of the 4th International Conference on Information

Systems for Crisis Response and Management available on their website. It containsthe complete program, including the abstracts of all papers and presentations.


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Conference was held at the Techniche Universiteit Delft.

Wireless Personal Multimedia Communications (WPMC) Conference: Jaipur,

India. 3-6 December 2007The HazInfo paper titled Last-Mile Hazard Warning in Sri Lanka: Performance ofWorldSpace Satellite Radios for Emergency Alerts, coauthored by Srinivasan

Rangarajan, PhD (Senior Vice President Engineering, WorldSpace), Peter Anderson(Associate Professor, Simon Fraser University), Gordon Gow, PhD (AssistantProfessor, University of Alberta), and Nuwan Waidyanatha (Project Manager,LIRNEasia) was accepted for oral/poster presentation at the Wireless PersonalMultimedia Communications (WPMC) at The Birla Science and Technology Center inthe heart of Jaipur, India, December 03 06, 2007.

WorldSpace, a lead technology partner in the HazInfo research project, field-tested16 Addressable Radios for Emergency Alerts (AREAs) in the SarvodayaCommunities and 34 AREAs in the Sarvodaya District Centers. Although the AREAsolutions lacked bi-directional communication and seemed the least effective, theAREA solution proved to be the most reliable that worked with utmost certainty andgreatest efficiency even when GSM and CDMA cells were deactivated for over 2

months, at the beginning of this year, during military operations in the conflict prone

North-East regions of Sri Lanka. The HazInfo research introduced a concept calledcomplementary redundancy, where coupling the AREA addressable/broadcasttechnology with a GSM mobile phone or CDMA nomadic phone improves the overall

performance (reliability and effectiveness) of the HazInfo system. The HazInfosystem was used in a live scenario during the Bengkulu earthquake on September12th.

Future Conferences/Workshops:

International Conference on Earthquake Engineering and Disaster Mitigation2008 (ICEEDM): Jakarta, Indonesia, 14 April 2008

Title: Community-based Hazard Warning in Sri Lanka: Performance of the Last-MileLink. Author(s): Nuwan Waidyanatha, Peter Anderson, Gordon Gow

Media Coverage:

Print

Disaster Alert, DataQuest India. 31 December 2007 Online:http://www.lirneasia.net/2008/01/hazinfo-project-featured-in-dataquest-india/.

Dole, Nilma. Radio Messages to Warn of Natural Disasters. Sunday Observer. 30

December 2007. Online: http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2007/12/30/new17.asp.

Sri Lanka tested satellite disaster warning system to be used in India. The


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Sinhalaya News Agency. 28 December 2007. Online:http://www.sinhalaya.com/news/english/wmview.php?ArtID=14500.

Sri Lanka tested satellite disaster warning system to be used in India. LankaBusiness Online (LBO). 27 December 2007. Online:

http://www.lbo.lk/fullstory.php?newsID=2122122686&no_view=1&SEARCH_TERM=10.

AREA Ready for Deployment. Satellite TODAY. 27 December 2007. Online:http://www.satellitetoday.com/st/headlines/21805.html.

SatNews.com. Online: http://www.satnews.com/cgi-bin/display_story.cgi?number=1117881731.

Wattegama, Chanuka. A Tale of Two Tsunamis: What Went Wrong in Each Case.

Daily Mirror. 26 December 2007. Online:http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=2220

New disaster warning technology on anvil. The Times of India. 16 December 2007.Online:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/New_disaster_warning_technology_on_anvil/

articleshow/2625862.cms.

Tsunami: Need for early warning systems underscored. The Daily Star. 2 October2007. Online: http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=6270.

TV

Interview with Natasha Udu-gama. Astro Awari Cable Television (Malaysia). 11December 2007. Hosted by Kamurul Bahrin Haron.

Interview with Rohan Samarajiva and Dr. A. T Ariyaratne. Channel One (MTV). BizFirst. Hosted by Harsha De Silva. 26 December 2007

7. Capacity-building

The HazInfo supplemental workshops enabled LIRNEasias original HazInfo projectto extend its reach beyond Sri Lanka, where it was originally piloted. It has helpedthe organization strengthen its ties with disaster risk reduction-related universitydepartments, research and implementing organizations. In Sri Lanka it has sparked

interest within the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights (MDMHR) togather a committee of telecom providers to design a mobile solution for an effectivepublic warning system. The Bangladesh workshop at the Bangladesh University ofEngineering and Technology encouraged sufficient interest for the civil engineeringdepartment to want to replicate the project given Bangladeshs particular hazardvulnerabilities. Upon completion of the workshop in New Delhi, India, the host (All

India Disaster Mitigation Institute) developed a proposal suggesting that HazInfo bedisseminated as a road tour to four major Indian cities that are particularly


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vulnerable to a variety of hazards.

The GK3 session on Making Communities Disaster Resilient was a panel

discussion involving the various stakeholders involved in the HazInfo project. Each

gave a short description of their organizations role in the project and the lessonslearned they gained from it. The session speakers were slightly more representativegender-wise given the venue and its particular attention to attracting minorityrepresentation.

The HazInfo workshop in Indonesia was significant in that it was the only one thatwas organized by a predominantly female disaster risk reduction organization. Unlike

earlier workshops, the participation of women was at its highest, including amongspeakers.

8. Project managementHazInfo supplemental project management during the six-month period wasgenerally good. Administration was done mainly by the dissemination manager forHazInfo with financial support and expertise provided by LIRNEasias financedepartment. Technical oversight and scientific input for workshop organization andpresentation design was done by both dissemination manager and HazInfo project

manager. Most of this work was done virtually as the project manager is in a satellite

location.

IDRC support and administration was conducted directly from its main office in

Ottawa. Throughout the duration of this supplemental, interaction with Ottawa wasminimal. Administrative matters included the signing of an amendment to the originalcontract (for the supplemental) in August and last month, request for a no-costextension to the HazInfo supplemental to take into account changes in the schedule

for the Indonesia workshop. All interactions with IDRC regarding technical supportand administration went smoothly.

9. Impact

The dissemination of the HazInfo pilot project throughout nations in the region willhave a profound effect on the development of early warning systems. Until now,most of the thinking in developing sound early warning systems has focusedprimarily upon robust technology. Monitoring and detection technologies, especially,

have garnered much of the attention. This dissemination sought to educate

academia, government, NGO/INGO, research, private and civil society organizationsworking within the field about the necessity of a community-based last-mile earlywarning system and the availability of technologies that would be best-suited forrelaying alerts/warnings to educated and aware community members within theHazInfo pilot. HazInfo supplemental dissemination reached a level of society alreadyknowledgeable about the basics of early warning, but not necessarily those that hadworked or researched the impact of specific technologies in relaying understandable

alerts to trained members of a community at-risk.


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The series of workshops and additional events mainly influenced variousstakeholders from policymakers and NGOs to researchers and practitioners. Thetwo dissemination workshops held

Hazinfo Supplemental Final Report Idrc 103553 001

Documents

Transcript of Hazinfo Supplemental Final Report Idrc 103553 001